"This is what Hearst wants from me. Fear that feeds the shadows, that makes them stronger and me weaker. I wrench my eyes open. The hallway lights flicker on and off. On and off.
On, dead girls reach out, mouths open. Teeth rot, skin hangs.
Off, darkness that consumes."

This is it - the trip that's sure to get the Ghost Gang one million subs. They're veering from their usual gig, of Chrissy doing readings and ghost walks of haunted spots in Vegas, and taking a weekend trip to the Hearst Hotel in LA. This is maybe the most haunted hotel in the country, and also where 25 year old Eileen Warren was found in the elevator shaft ten years ago. Theories abounded about her death online, and as the Ghost Gang has grown in popularity, they've gotten folks asking them to visit the Hearst so Chrissy can speak to Eileen's ghost. Chase hadn't told Kiki and Emma that they're staying in the hostel section of the hotel, and they're not thrilled about the communal bathroom situation. The creepy vibes are strong throughout the hotel. Wearing a hat usually helps Chrissy mute the thoughts and feelings of the dead and living that otherwise sound in her brain, but this hotel has such a history, the noise can't be stopped. Everywhere she looks, she sees the echoes of bodies being carried away, blood dripping from the elevator, voices screaming. But while the rest of the group is taking a few hours of shuteye before they start recording for the video, Chrissy meets Bram. He's staying in the same room they are, and as it turns out, he's also psychic. When Bram's around, the noise that presses in from other people and the dead is muted. He's at the Hearst investigating the hotel's management for Eileen's family, but maybe he'll be able to help the others - especially when they start recording and make a discovery that totally changes their trip.

This was a enjoyable, quick horror/thriller read. I don't know that there was a whole lot that I found original here, and we hit some fairly predictable beats, but it was still fun. I mostly forgot that this book is written by two authors. Chapters move around between different characters' perspectives, but the writing style felt fairly similar throughout, so I don't know if the authors wrote particular characters, or wrote it all together. There were some spots of what felt like inconsistent writing style or tone, and I noticed when I was reviewing my notes to write this review that there are a couple small plot inconsistencies, but neither of these really detracted from the book. Some of Eileen's blog posts were interspersed between chapters - I don't know that these impacted the plot, but I always love a little bit of epistolary matter.

People who enjoyed The Perfect Place to Die or The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall will probably like this - or if you read the blurb and like how it sounds, you'll probably enjoy it.

Thank you to Random House Children's and NetGalley for the eARC. Horror Hotel will be published February 1st, 2022.

First of all, the cover of this book is perfect. Second of all, I'm a huge horror/true crime fan, and I especially am obsessed with the Elisa Lam case, so I was really excited for this one. This book is obviously based on the Cecil Hotel, which is fine...except that nothing about it was unique. This one just fell flat for me. Interesting premise, decent writing, but overall meh.

A delightful little story that is very old school Scooby Doo combined with Gravity Falls. I had a lot of fun with this one, it's cartoon-ish in the best way!

Okay, I need to start off by saying that this book was cheesy. With that said, I absolutely loved it. It was everything I look for in horror.

I'm sorry this one didn't work for me. The plot was very simplistic. No suspense. It was obvious what was going to happen and who the killer was going to be. All the female characters were basically the same. If you are looking for any type of diversity in character this book is not the one. The romance subplots were also not really necessary to a supposed ghost story. On the plus side I read this rather quickly because the writing was very simple.

Thank you Netgalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. I wish it worked better for me.

Chrissy, Chase, Kiki, and Emma run a YouTube channel dedicating to haunted locations and terrifying stories. Chrissy is psychic, which in her case means she can see the dead and get a read on the thoughts of the living. When they select an infamous LA hotel as their next video shoot in order to get more subscribers, Chrissy is hesitant but on board. Once they arrive, they quickly realize just how haunted and dangerous the hotel is. The hotel isn't just known for a past murderer under its roof. There's one active now.

HORROR HOTEL is a love letter to teen slasher films and includes a fun paranormal twist. What I loved most about this story is how deeply Chrissy feels for the girls and women who were murdered. Even from the beginning, we are introduced to the hotel as the location of where a young woman was killed rather than the location of a mass murderer. Throughout the story, we get little glimpses of Eileen and other victims' lives and personalities. They become the center and hold the most importance, which isn't always common in horror/crime dramas.

While HORROR HOTEL was entertaining and did a great job centering the victims, the main character voices were sometimes hard to distinguish. I had to flip back to the chapter headings to double check whose POV we were in several times. The plot was on the predictable side, especially with the identity of the killer, but it was still lots of fun getting there. For readers new to horror or to the slasher genre, this is a great, accessible entry point.

HORROR HOTEL combines high entertainment with a weighty respect for the departed and ties everything together with a perfect dash of romance. Recommended for fans of CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD and A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER

Horror Hotel was such a fun book. I read it in one sitting and didn't want to put it down at all.

Chrissy can see ghosts. She always has, but no one ever believed her. When she met Chase, he saw weird things on camera around her and asked her if she communicated with ghosts. He was the first person who listened to her and believed what she said. They started a YouTube channel with Emma and Kiki and they were getting close to one million viewers. They decided to drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to stay at a haunted hotel. Another girl that claimed to see ghosts died there. There was a serial killer that lived and died there. There were a lot of other deaths and bad things that happened there. As soon as they arrived Chrissy could feel nothing good. It was overwhelming to her. The whole place felt bad. There were ghosts everywhere and it messed her up. Then she met another person there that calmed that for her. He took away all the noise and pain when he was around. It drove a bit of a wedge between her and Chase because of jealousy. But she needed to feel normal and have someone to talk to that felt like she did. They were filming and Chrissy followed ghosts when she could. And then they found a dead body. And then another. There was a real life human killer at the hotel and they didn't know if anyone would make it out alive.

I really liked all the characters in the book along with the setting.

I gave this book 4 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my earc.

My first review of the new year! Is it bad if I say ‘Finally’? It feels like I haven’t posted a review in so long. It’s been less than a week. Let’s relax and get back into the normal swing of things.

Before getting into the bulk of the review I want to say a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers at Underlined for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Horror Hotel is a YA Horror novel about a group of friends who hunt ghosts and share it on YouTube. They decide to spend the night in a haunted hotel to try to boost their subscriber count to over a million. But things don’t go as planned as their resident psychic is overwhelmed by the spirits haunting this hotel. And maybe they have less to fear from the dead and more to fear from the living. Horror Hotel comes out on February 1st and is available for preorder now.

I have to say that this did so much better than I was expecting. I normally don’t read a ton in the Thriller/Horror genres because I usually find them so unbelievable. But despite the fact that the subject matter is literally ghosts I found this novel to be so believable. I also really enjoyed the characters in this one. Everyone felt so well fleshed out and all of the characters were well rounded with their own wants and needs and flaws. The authorial voice can sometimes sound choppy when a novel is written by more than one author but I found that this flowed really well and I sometimes forgot that more than one person wrote this novel.

There were a couple of obvious problems I had with this one. The story itself felt like it needed more. The novel in print form is only 224 pages so I know that my love of longer novels is probably want fuels some of my desire for more. But it also feels like I could have gotten sucked into the story better if it was at least 50 pages longer. I think that the “world building” I guess you could call it at the hotel needed more work. It wasn’t as atmospheric as I would want a horror novel to be. I also felt like we needed more time to get a better handle on our suspects.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time reading this one. I would love to read other works by these authors. If they can manage to make me enjoy a horror novel, they can do anything.

Holding on to the edge of my bed at night might tell you that this book is not for the faint of heart. Dark and mysterious, this book will have you stuck between realities and once you finally come up for air you’ll want to dive right back in.

I really enjoyed this story! It reminded me of one of my favorites types of paranormal ghosty movies.. Where a group of paranormal investigators are going somewhere thats super haunted in order to make a movie and make it big.. Only in this one the group is trying to make it big on youtube. The psychic tells the group that bad things will happen but of course no one listens.. the views/movie are way to important and besides they will all be looking out for each other so it will all be okay. I was sucked in from the very begining and read it in one sitting.

Chrissy can see ghosts, she has been able to do this since she was a little girl.. She has always felt alone with this weird ability, until she is paired with Chase for a project in school.. He knew something was up with her, and when he realized that in photos there were orbs and lights.. He loves paranormal tv shows and knew thats a sign of ghosts, when she revealed the truth to him a friendship and a youtube channel were born..

This Halloween Chrissy, Chase, Emma and Kiki are going to a Hostel/Hotel in LA.. Lots of people have died here, but they are going to specifically see if they can find out what happened to a young woman who was found at the bottom of an elevator shaft..

As soon as they arrive at the hotel Chrissy can feel that the Hotel is alive, just waiting for them to come inside. Almost from the first moment they walk in the doors she can see who has died there.. She can see them how they died reliving their deaths over and over again. This definitely makes this extra spooky.. The dead are everywhere and only she can see what they are doing.. I loved the amosphere of the haunted hotel, and all the crazy things that had happened there in the past..

I really loved the Ghost Gang, and would love to see them in another book, going to another super haunted location trying to figure out how someone mysteriously died.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Horror Hotel by Victoria and Faith McClaren is a YA horror novel that will appeal to fans of Netflix's The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. The story revolves a "Scooby-Doo gang" of teenage ghost hunters and is told from their 4 points of view. Chrissy, Chase, Emma, and Kiki go on a trip to a haunted LA hotel. Their goal? To film their escapades for their YouTube channel so that they can reach 1,000,000 subscribers. But what if one of them can actually see ghosts? What happens when they stumble across a dead body? Will they make it out of the hotel alive?

Here is a spooky excerpt from the Prologue, which is the last entry on a blog:

"LA is the craziest, weirdest, saddest place i have ever been.
everywhere i look there are people screaming.
i’m staying at the Hearst Hotel for economic reasons, but the longer i’m here, the more my brain buzzes and i can’t think straight.
i swear, this hotel is alive. i keep seeing things out of the corner of my eyes. shadows. faces.
i hear things too. whispers. voices.
...
i want friends. a boyfriend. a brain that doesn’t see things that aren’t there.
i came to LA to find myself, but somehow i’m more lost than ever.
this hotel is hungry. i hope it doesn’t swallow me whole."

Overall, Horror Hotel delivers on the chills and thrills! I was scared to read this book at night, because I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep afterward. As a fan of the Netflix documentary on Elisa Lam, to whom this book is dedicated, I got some of the references between the case in this book and the real-life true crime story. The original story was so creepy, and this book definitely channeled that spine-chilling atmosphere. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of YA horror, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in February!

This book was conflicting. On the one hand, the writing style was way more juvenile than young adult. On the other hand, it seemed like every other line was full of profanity. This book would have been improved if the pacing was better and the characters didn't feel like adults creating a caricature a modern teen. Still, Horror Hotel was a pretty fun, darker version of Scooby Doo. I liked the way the supernatural power was handled, even if the paranormal aspects of the book were extremely predictable and not scary. I would recommend this for a young teen that's looking to get acquainted with horror tropes.

Overall a super fun, spooky YA book!! Was it a little predictable? Yes but that was okay because it was well written and had decent characters and as I said before it was just a really fun book! I personally love ya fiction and the paranormal, so for me this book could do no wrong!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC,

Well: this seems like fiction version of Crime Scene: Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel documentary on Netflix with paranormal twist! You know where Elisa Lam, college student travels to have a Hollywood experience, choosing the wrongest place to accommodate: a hotel located in Skid Row: Its long history of police raids, targeted city initiatives, and homelessness advocacy make it one of the most notable districts in Los Angeles ( as Wikipedia mentioned)

She checks in the hotel and never leaves the place like the other 80 people!

This book’s Horror Hotel theme is based on this terrifying historical place. Just like amateur sleuths who were still investigating Lam’s case, at this book a group of kids: including Chrissy who has psychic powers are trying to find the real reason behind the death of famous blogger at this hotel.

The idea of retelling the story with paranormal twists was good but the execution of the plot was a little haphazard, undeveloped with the very foreseeable mysterious revelations.

It could be better read with more layered characterization. There were too many similarities with the real life haunted hotel premise. I wish the authors worked more on the plot to differentiate it from the original story.

So I only give three stars. I was expecting a little more from this book after seeing the magnificent cover and intriguing title.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy!

First of all, this cover is everything. Horror Hotel is horror, camp, and cuteness (but the good kind...not the gross cringe kind.) From the jump it is fast paced and non-stop. Think- Zak Bagans' Ghost Hunters' if they actually ever saw anything.

Parts were a bit predictable but overall this is everything I love in a YA Horror.

I got this arc off of NetGalley these opinions are my own. I found this book to be an interesting read. Chase, Chrissy, Emma, and Kiki are into ghosts they go haunted places and film, using Chrissy’s psychic powers. For their latest trip they go to the Hearst Hotel, where a previous blogger died a horrific death, can thy figure out what happened to her? I figured this one out pretty quickly but it was still a pretty interesting read. A few twists and turns and Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren go from paranormal to serial killer. I was not super impressed with Chrissy in the book, but given her situation her actions are understandable. There were some things left unfinished but they are the kind of things you’d expect to be left unfinished so again it’s understandable. I can’t say this was my favorite read but it was a pretty good book!

A fun spooky read with lots of paranormal fun. I definitely think will circulate well during October at my library. I think teens will find the YouTube famous aspect of it intriguing.

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy of this work. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **

This book will keep you engaged and on edge from start to finish- and isn't that what you want in a scary story? If you're interested in supernatural horror, this is a fast-paced read that scratches that itch extremely well. It is a bit graphic gore-wise, and there is some content that might be triggering regarding assault and violence, so keep that in mind when deciding whether to read this one. I was extremely engrossed right off the bat, though, and definitely recommend!

This was a really fun, fast moving book! This would be great for fans of There's Someone in Your House. The gang of teens who (perhaps foolishly) decide to spend a night in an extremely haunted hotel are well realized and have great banter with each other. The mystery element is well integrated. Definitely a buy!

I wanted to like this book. I really did. I mean look at the cover. It's awesome. Some major problems I had with this book were that all of the girls sound exactly the same which is strange considering this book was written by two authors. Chase sounds slightly different, but I think that's mostly because he's the only one saying "I hate Bram". I had a hard time caring about any of these characters. I know Chrissy is psychic but the authors slip into other character's heads when Chrissy is not narrating. They're not psychic. How do they know what their friends are thinking? You think the editor would have caught that. Sadly this was not one for me.